Special Needs and the Vocational Dream

Young Emilio wants to grow up to be a firefighter. Little Emma wants to be a teacher. How do we know? Because we ask them. We prepare them. We push them. We guide them. Is it assumed differently for a child with autism or a child with intellectual disabilities or even multiple disabilities? If those with severe disabilities are capable and only require society to think out of the box, seems the world could make a place for a willing heart.
An intriguing research article coming out in the August 2011 issue of Intellectual & Development Disabilities looks at what is being done to enable the vocational dreams of some special needs kids. Parents need to be girded with facts and data to help them partner early on with educators, counselors, and employers to moving more severely disabled children closer to finding their life's work.

Study Finds Autism Takes Toll on Fathers

MADISON, Wis. -- A groundbreaking University of Wisconsin-Madison study reveals some hard truths about the toll autism takes on fathers. According to the researchers:
* More than 30 percent of fathers of grown children with autism experience symptoms of depression so severe that they warrant clinical attention.
* Fathers of adolescents and young adults with autism experience high levels of depression and are pessimistic about what the future holds for their son or daughter, much more so than dads whose kids have other disabilities such as Down syndrome.